Crossing the Line
by gaelicchick
Summary: The fifth installment in the "East Meets West" saga. With Maggie gone, Spot overstepping himself, and Jack staying out of things, the girls are on their own to prevent disaster when Midtown makes a grab for the Kitchen.


Crossing the Line  
by:Amy  
  
The rain drummed on the roof of the Lodging House, adding to the tension inside. The dreary fall weather had been keeping the newsies indoors after selling for almost a week. Something had to break, and soon; if not the weather pattern, the tempers of the ones trapped inside.  
  
There was an uneasy silence in the girls' dormitory up on the third floor. Lacey stabbed her needle into her lace work, jerking it out again viciously. Gloria sat on her bunk, dangling one leg over the side as she mercilessly attacked the knots in her dark hair with a brush. Sammy was attempting to nap, one of the morning's papers too soggy to sell draped over her face. Kats and Emma sat quietly reading on Emma's upper bunk. Annie sat in her typical perch by the window, where she'd been sitting for weeks. She had Maggie's watch chain in her hand, and was swinging it until it wrapped all the way around her fingers, then changing the direction till it wrapped the other way. Every time the chain came around, it smacked against the window. Tap, tap, tap tap. Pause. Tap, tap, tap, tap.   
  
Gloria stopped her brushing, a frustrated look on her face. She stared at Annie. "Querida, please stop that." Annie pouted.  
  
"Listen to hoir kiddo," a voice drifted up from beneath the paper covering Sammy's head, "it's drivin me insane. I woulda said somefin, but I didn't know who it was, an gettin up ta find out is too much effort."  
  
Annie pouted a little more, then wrapped the chain carefully around her wrist, slumped down, arms over her knees, and stared out the window.  
  
A relative calm subsided for a few minutes. Then, squeak, squeak, squeak. Lacey looked up to see Annie drawing in the fog on the window pane. Squeak, squeak, squeak.  
  
"Enough bambina," she warned without looking up from her lace work, "let's just be quiet for a while, why don't you come away from the window?"  
  
Annie just gave her a sullen look, and climbed up onto the bunk on top of hers. The bunk with no sheets or possessions on it, Maggie's. She sat at the end, swinging her feet. Thud-thud, thud-thud, thud-thud.  
  
Kats and Emma both looked up from over their book. "Annie...." they warned.  
  
Annie had had enough, she threw herself off of the bed, landing in the middle of the floor with a bang.  
  
"Annie!" Every girl in the room cried in exasperation. Annie didn't look at them, just turned and ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her.  
  
The girls shared worried glances. "Let her go," Gloria said. They nodded, watching the door expectantly.  
  
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She didn't come back. The rest of the girls decided it would be best to give the poor child a little space, and they went back to their tasks; but every now and then a hopeful glance would steal towards the door at the sound of footsteps.  
  
A few hours later, the rain was still pouring as fierce, or more so, than it had been before. Lacey finally gave up and started downstairs. Just as she passed the second floor landing she met David coming up. She put a hand on his arm, and he answered her unspoken question.  
  
"She and Les went back to my house a while ago. My mother's asked her to stay to dinner and she's welcome to spend the night as well."  
  
Lacey sighed with relief. "Thank you David. Normally I'd say dat wasn't necessary, but I think da time away from us woulda do her good. She's been worried..." her voice faded away.  
  
David caught her gaze, she saw in his eyes a mirror of her own concern. "No news then?"  
  
The Sicilian beauty shook her head. "Not for almost two months. We used ta be getting letters every two weeks or so, but now..."  
  
David forced a smile for her. "Come on now, this is Maggie we're talking about. If anyone knows how to take care of herself-"  
  
"It's her," Lacey finished. "I know, it's jest dat winter's comin, and I don't want her der..."  
  
David nodded, understanding her fear of Maggie alone in Ireland, cold, possibly hungry, or having to make a trans-Atlantic crossing in icy seas. Neither was a good prospect. He put on a brave face. "Worrying won't bring her home faster, you know she'd curse at us both if she could see us right now."  
  
Lacey laughed. "You should see Gloria, even she's missing Maggie's 'colorful' language."  
  
David feigned astonishment and clutched his chest. "Good God the world must be coming to an end!. I doubt if even Maggie herself ever expected that!"  
  
Lacey smiled, and returned upstairs.  
  
David's smile faded after she was out of sight. He tried not to let on, but he wanted Maggie home as much as anyone. He shoved the thought out of his head as he entered the boys dormitory, put on a grin and settled down to talk and play cards with Jack and the boys, a warm up game before the Midtown and Bronx fellows showed up. There was a rumor floating around that Brooklyn, who was always invited but hadn't shown up recently, was going to attend. David cast an eye towards the girls room up the stairs, and shuddered to think what might happen if they did.  
  
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The girls room had just settled down again when there came a tap at the window. No one was there, so Gloria opened it and stuck her head out. Through the rain she could vaguely make out two forms throwing rocks against the window from the street below.  
  
"Que pasa?"  
  
"Gloria! It's me, Jenny!" an voice cried.  
  
"And Colleen!" came another.  
  
"What in the-"  
  
"We'll explain later! Just come down and let us in will ya! The guy down there doesn't recognize us and there is no way I'm climbing that ladder in the rain and the dark!"  
  
"Fine! Come around to the front," Gloria shut the window and turned back to the questioning stares from around the room. She shrugged, "We've got guests. Soaking wet guests by the look of it, so grab some blankets, they've walked a long way in the rain so it must be important."   
  
She headed downstairs to explain the situation to Kloppman while Lacey and Kats followed with some extra blankets. Emma tagged along with money for Kloppman, guessing that whomever it was would probably be spending the night unless the storm broke.  
  
As the girls filed down the stairs, they passed groups from the Bronx and Midtown entering the boys room for the game. That's when they saw Spot. Apparently Brooklyn had felt the need to put in an appearance, for Spot and a few of his seconds in command were making there way up the stairs. Gloria muttered under her breath, Kats made a sign with her hands to ward off evil spirits, Emma cursed him in Hebrew, and Lacey, as usual, stared him down with the Look of a Thousand Deaths. Spot said nothing and continued into the room, the girls paid Kloppman and quickly moved the new arrivals into the safety of their room.  
  
Spot shook off the girls' angry stares as he swaggered into the room, a spitshake for Jack as well as Midtown and the Bronx's leaders; Bull and Hammer. He put on a grin and inclined his head towards the retreating parade of girls up the stairs. "So, eh, deys still upset over dat little incident, huh?"  
  
Sammy, who had been playing a hand with Blink, Race, Boots and Snoddy, snorted in disgust and got to her feet. "If you call banishing their best friend three thousand miles away on her own to a country where she nearly starved to death before a "little incident," then yeah. But I don't think "upset" is a strong enough word to use. Good night."   
  
With that she marched out of the room, not making eye contact with anybody, and shutting the door swiftly behind her.  
  
"Well, der goes owah last ally," muttered Race under his breath. He was right, too. Ever since the night they gave Maggie the ultimatum, none of the girls save Sammy had returned to play poker in the evenings. They were civil during the day, but it was obvious that the boys had sunk too low in their opinion to associate with. Some of the newer and younger girls had even left completely, mostly out of fear of receiving the same treatment themselves then for love of Maggie, whom they hardly knew. They went to Harlem or Midtown or even the Bowry, anywhere but the Duane Street house or any house in Brooklyn.  
  
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Lacey breathed a sigh of relief as she leaned back against the closed door.   
  
"Jenny," she began, "don't a take dis da wrong way, but what in da name a all dats holy are ya doin' here! How did ya get out of Brooklyn? An don't ya know dat-"  
  
"Spot's here?" The blond haired girl grinned. "Of course. How do you think I got out? With Spot finally taking a night off, and bringing a few of his highest ranking officers with him, the border guard is inexperienced; not to mention lax since Spot's not in the territory tonight. It was the only way I could have made it, there's no way out if Spot's around, and I don't relish a walk through Queens, the Bronx, and the entire island of Manhattan in the rain! I love you guys, but not that much."  
  
"Truth is," Colleen, a spunky red head, spoke up as she wrung out her skirt, "I'd be more worried about gettin' back in if anything. I've got no problem, so far the Bronx hasn't caught this ridiculous inter-territory paranoia bug, yet. But goin' back across the bridge tomorrow, you're bound to be hassled."  
  
"Which is why I'm taking the long way back with you precious," Jenny grinned and put a hand on Colleen's shoulder. "The border between Queens and Brooklyn isn't nearly as bad, especially during the day. It's a ridiculously long way to go about it, but it will get me back home without another run in with that jack-ass who thinks he owns every working kid on the island." The anger in Jenny's voice was audible.  
  
"Well, be glad your still in the country girl." Emma commented dryly as she stretched herself out on her upper bunk.  
  
Colleen nodded. "Especially since your from...where is your family from originally Jen?"  
  
Jen shrugged, "Hell, all over really. I do remember ma sayin somethin before she died about Grandma bein from Poland or somewheres..." She looked up, "Speaking of refugees, any word? I haven't had anything to bring you from Douglas, but I thought maybe she'd sent somthin' direct?"  
  
The girls looks answered her before Emma's words. "Nothing, an she wouldn't send it here, she doesn't trust Jack not to tamper with it."  
  
Colleen nodded, "She doesn't have much reason to does she?"  
  
The girls settled in an uneasy silence. They had received a few letters from Maggie, but they were never mailed to the Lodging House because of Maggie's lack of faith in the boys. All her letters went to Douglas O'Connor's pub in Brooklyn, where Maggie used to work; after he and the boys at the pub read them, they gave them to Jenny, who was now working in a sewing shop in Brooklyn, and occasionally nights at the pub to help fill in for Maggie.   
  
Jenny could at least get them as far as the Brooklyn/Queens border, where, depending on how tight security was, she either went to Nelly's boarding house herself, or sent a runner for her and handed the letter to her across the line. From then on things got easier, since Spot was the only one being terribly strict on preventing travel between boroughs. Nelly got them to Colleen in the Bronx, and Colleen, if she had time, brought them all the way herself, or made a handoff in Midtown to Aiden, who could get them in without a problem. The confusing, incredibly inefficient system had been devised by Maggie, who had foreseen problems in transporting the letters. The directions themselves had been written with plenty of expletives thrown in and dozens of curses upon the head of that "conceited son of a pig farmer in Brooklyn with no more sense ....". The girls had enjoyed reading it thoroughly.  
  
"Well...?" Gloria said, sitting crossed legged on the floor in front of Annie's bunk.  
  
"What?" Jenny and Colleen answered together as they peeled off dripping socks and shoes and wrapped blankets around their shoulders.  
  
"What are you doing here? Whatever the reason it certainly wasn't to check up on Maggie."  
  
"Oh," Colleen sighed and rolled her eyes, turning to Jenny, "You tell them, I did it last time." The two girls sat down on Annie's bunk.  
  
Lacey raised an eyebrow and took a seat opposite them on Sammy's bunk. Emma sat next to her, and Kats climbed onto the upper berth.  
  
"What do you mean 'last time'? What is this?"  
  
Jenny took a deep breath. "OK, here it goes. It's about Blackpool-"  
  
Gloria interrupted, "Wait a minute, Blackpool? Are we talking Mr. 'I like to cart my dead employees away in laundry trucks' Blackpool?"  
  
Kats chimed in, "Mr. Big nasty sweatshop mill Blackpool?"  
  
Colleen nodded. Lacey butted in before Jenny could continue. "So what? Last I heard of him he was short one crispy fried Canarsie mill."  
  
"That's what I'm talking about. Blackpool owns factories and mills all over Brooklyn, and probably is at least a partner in some all over the city. The one we burnt down scared him a lot, no question. Employees have never taken any kind of action like that against their employer. But the fact is, financially it only made a small dent. He's got steel mills, glassworks, shoe polish factories, canneries, you name it the man's got a finger in the pot. And burning down one mill, while I have to admit, Maggie had a good idea, isn't going to make things better for workers everywhere else."  
  
"So what do we do, burn down all his factories? That could take a while," Lacey grinned.  
  
Colleen wasn't smiling. "That's the thing; burning down one mill that ought to have been condemned anyway is one thing. But the city and the workers need those mills," she paused a moment. "You probably didn't know how lucky you four were; not everyone had a job to go back to after the fire. Sure, there are a few jobs in seamstress shops like Jenny's; but Jenny also grew up in Pennsylvania. She doesn't have an accent like Maggie's or Kats's or Lacey's that's going to hurt her opportunities. And there aren't enough people like Douglas who are looking for hot headed foreign chits who like to run their mouths." Everyone had a smile and a giggle at that.  
  
Jenny continued. "We need those factories, everyone; the money they make keeps the city running, we don't want to shut them down. What we need to do is change the conditions; force the owners to cut down the hours and increase pay. And this is not a good season to strike. Its going to get very cold very soon, and wet, and between heating their homes, and keeping their loved ones fed, clothed, and healthy, no one is going to be in a position to sacrifice wages."  
  
Emma was confused. "If the workers can't strike, then how are they supposed to get better working conditions?"  
  
Colleen sighed, "There's a bigger problem than that. Most of the people we've talked to, don't even see striking as a possibility. They've worked under Blackpool and his kind too long to even hope for better conditions. A lot of the girls in the mill were like that too, until you showed up. Because you hadn't worked in there before, you weren't willing to put up with what most people took for granted. Like when Maggie got caned for keeping the foreman from hurting Cora. That's what they need. That made a lot of girls start thinking about changing things. And that's what needs to happen to the others we've seen."  
  
Jenny jumped back in. "We've been working on organizing workers, mostly mill girls right now, in smaller factories run by one of Blackpool's associates, not the man himself. But we have to go about it carefully. See, the owners have a black list, with the names and descriptions of trouble makers in their factories. Once a girl with her name on the list gets fired, none of the other owners will hire her back. That's what happened to me."  
  
Lacey raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Gloria ran a hand through her hair. "So what are we supposed to do?"  
  
Colleen grinned, "Nothing but be yourselves. We've got these meetings, secret ones, usually held at a boarding house, but a different one every time so we don't get caught. There are a lot of people still on the fence about fighting back, standing up for themselves, that sort of thing. And since you can't take a job in the factories like me, we figured you could at least come and help convince them. We're trying to get as many girls from the mill to help as possible. Especially because they can tell people about...about..." Colleen faltered, and Jenny added softly, "about Gretel."  
  
Kats nodded along. "An if we can convince these girls, den zay fight, an zen girls in ze other factories, zey follow, yes?"  
  
Jenny nodded enthusiastically. "Exactly! We hope that just by standing up to abuse, universally, the girls will be able to get changes made without striking. And if one factory changes, others will too. And its more likely too work now that the owners have the disaster at the Blackpool plant to remind them of what can happen when they abuse their power."  
  
The girls looked around at each other. Lacey had an enigmatic smile on her face. "I assume," she said, "dat these meetin's would require us ta slip around in other parts of the city..."   
  
Gloria caught her drift and grinned, "Parts where we aren't supposed ta be, no?"  
  
Jenny's smile stretched from ear to ear. "Why, of course!"  
  
Colleen tried to keep a straight face, "Of course, we would understand if you weren't willing to break the rules that the boys have established-"  
  
"Where's the first meetin?" Emma asked.  
  
Jenny's face beamed. "Prospect Heights, Brooklyn."  
  
"I'm in!" All four shouted at once, the chance to annoy Spot Conlon a temptation impossible to overcome.  
  
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The outsiders, girls and boys alike, stayed the night. The morning brought a cloudy sky, but it looked like the rain would hold off until late afternoon.  
  
Inside the Lodging House, individuals could only hope to hold their tempers half so long, as the Brooklyn boys shared the sinks and mirrors with the girls. It was all Jack could do to hurry the affair along and get everyone out of the house alive.  
  
They met up with Annie at the square, Colleen and Jenny waiting around with them, deciding to follow Bull's boys back through Midtown, to avoid any trouble in case Spot had convinced them to tighten the border. Not that they were going to hide themselves, oh no. Jenny was having the time of her life flirting up a storm with the boys, and she and Colleen might face a harder task of getting rid of their escorts after Midtown than getting through the territory itself.  
  
Lacey and the girls watched with amusement, and then set off for the Kitchen, following Bull's boys for a pace, since they were heading in the same general direction.  
  
But they had not walked more than two blocks from the square, when Colleen and Jenny came sprinting back through the crowd, looks of absolute horror on their faces. They reached the girls, panting, and Jenny grabbed Lacey by the shoulders.  
  
"What on earth-" Jenny cut her off.  
  
"Do you...have any...idea....of what those...those...idiots...have done," she panted.  
  
The girls all shook their heads dumbfounded, Colleen had caught her breath by now, and continued in a flat voice.  
  
"They made The Kitchen a part of Bull's territory. It's now bein 'officially' called West Midtown."  
  
There was a moment of silence, then all hell broke loose.  
  
"Are they insane! What da hell were they thinking? They can't be serious!"  
  
"They are," Jenny sighed, "We heard 'em talking, they figure its pretty much been unofficially part of their territory anyway. But I'm sure Spot had somethin to do with it, especially since you all sell there."  
  
Gloria shook her head. "They won't stand for it. Hell's Kitchen has always and will always stand on its own. I've seen what they've done to a poor fellow who just figured it was part of Midtown! That is an independent neighborhood, you can't just send newsies in there!"  
  
Colleen shook her head. "Well, tell that to Bull. He figured, with Spot's help no doubt, that since there aren't any newsie houses in there, that it was open territory. And Spot no doubt cured their fears by telling them that a gang of girls had been working the area for years."  
  
"That's crazy!" Emma blurted out. "There aren't any newsie houses in the area because all the local boys either clear out as soon as they can find a better job elsewhere, or get a job working for one of the rings. There are too many jobs that pay better to generate an interest."  
  
"Besides," Lacey added, "Establishing a house would bring in people from the outside, and you just don't do that in the Kitchen. Hell! The only reason we can work it is because we grew up there at the orphanage. We have contacts and friends, and we know where we can and can't go!"  
  
Kats spoke for the first time. "Jenny, how soon did Bull say he was putting people in there."  
  
Jenny swallowed hard. "Today, he was sending boys over today as soon as he got back to their Lodging House."  
  
"Dios mio," Gloria's face went white. "It'll be lambs to the slaughter."  
  
Lacey nodded, "All dose peabrains have ta do is stick their face where ita don't belong..." She trailed off into silence for a minute, then jerked her head up. "We've got to get ta the Kitchen, now!"   
  
And with that the girls took off down the street as if the devil himself was chasing them, running as fast as they could and not stopping until they reached 8th avenue and 34th street, and praying that they had gotten in before Bull's newsies.  
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"Well," Gloria panted, "What...do we do...now." She leaned over, her hands on her legs, breathing heavily.  
  
"We need a plan," Annie pointed out. The girls nodded, no kidding.  
  
Lacey though for a moment. "If we can stop 'em at 9th, they could be all right."  
  
Kats raised an eyes brow. "And zey are jest gonna stop? You don't tink dey won't go further?"  
  
Lacey threw up her hands. "What else can we do? If we spread out along da avenue, from 34th ta 58th, an sell in from there, we can try an keep 'em up front."  
  
"Lacey, that is just about the least effective way to work this area! We'll have to double back all the time, it'll take forever." Emma rubbed her forehead.  
  
"She's right, its all we can do. Come hell or high water we have to try and keep those boys at the front, away from the back territory! Do you have any idea what could happen if they go sniffin around near the docks? The loading piers? If they duck into the wrong warehouse?"  
  
"Heaven forbid," Kats breathed.  
  
"We're gonna have ta sell alone, no way we'll cover the territory otherwise," Emma put in. The girls froze, even for them, selling alone was dangerous.  
  
"I don't want anyone out alone," Gloria said, "but your right. Which one of us knows this place best?"  
  
"Maggie," Annie piped up. The girls nodded silently, then Kats' eyebrows shot up.  
  
"You don't tink she might be coming, do you? Maybe dats why she hasn't been writing, she's on a ship?" The girls shrugged, it was something they didn't dare hope for.  
  
"Well, we can find out tonight. We can grill Aiden for anything he's heard from her, as well as anything he thinks will help. But we all know Maggie's not the only one who knows this place inside and out. What we need to know is where in this place everyone knows best." Emma's statement made sense.  
  
Annie was the first to pipe up. "54th and up; that's near the old orphanage; and the new convent's around 56th and 10th. You guys have sent me there enough that I know the area pretty well. But not much beyond 54th, the nuns always tended to move towards the border on errands, not further into the Kitchen."  
  
Emma nodded. "There are some old friends of the family scattered around the Southern Border, I know up to 40th like the back of my hand."  
  
Lacey grinned, "Well, all the good card sharks were on 39th and 40th, and I got friends in low places all over the area just north of there. So Emma, why don't you take between 34th and 39th, and I'll pick up where you leave off until 45th street. That leaves Gloria and Kats."  
  
Gloria thought for a minute. "I know the whole area pretty well, but I don't think we should leave out Maggie's people. Annie, she took you with her most of the time, you think they know you well enough?"  
  
Annie was thrilled that she was being thought of as part of the team and not a child. She thought for a minute, and nodded. "The lookouts and doormen know me, but I won't be able to get inside. And I really don't want to mess with the Flynns."  
  
Lacey nodded. "Neither would anyone, including Maggie. But without the Flynns, a lot of Maggie's safer friends, where were they?"  
  
"South of the orphanage, I'd say between The Little Sisters of the Poor and 50th."  
  
Gloria nodded. "OK, we all know the area around the orphanage. So why don't you start at 50th and work your way up; and Kats can work her way back from the northern border at 59th St. Meet in the middle, and don't do anything beyond 10th by yourself, agreed?"  
  
The two girls nodded. Gloria was pleased, "I can take from where Lacey leaves off until Annie takes over at 50th, and we should be able to spread ourselves out all right."  
  
Lacey nodded, "And I think the 10th Avenue boundary is good too. I think we're fine selling all the way through 12th, but prying around for someone to help us is not a good idea alone back there, especially near the docks. Avoid it if we can, sound good?" The girls nodded in unison.  
  
"One more thing!" Emma shouted as they began to run off, "Pray for rain! If the idiots are soaking, maybe they'll turn back before anything happens!"  
  
Lacey shook her head as she trotted off, they could only hope.  
  
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Lacey tore down 43rd street, stopping just past ninth avenue at a small alley next to a grocers. She didn't waste time to go into the apartment building, choosing instead to stand in the street and scream.  
  
"Micky! Micky! Hey Micky!" Her shouts became more hysterical as she thought what might happen to not only the Midtown boys, but also to herself and the other girls if anything went wrong. The bosses would obviously pin outside newsies moving in as their fault.  
  
A skinny girl with pale skin, freckles, and stringy long strawberry blond hair stuck her head and upper body out the second story window.  
  
"Whose askin?"  
  
Lacey cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted. "Over here Micky! It's me!"  
  
The girl squinted, then located the source of the voice as Lacey. "Fellichi? Dat you? What's da mattah?"  
  
"More den I can tell, can ya come down? I don't want ta shout dis for da whole world, if ya know what I mean."  
  
The girl didn't respond, but her head disappeared behind the muslin curtains. Minutes later she was opening the street door, and took a seat next to Lacey on the stoop. "So what is it," she said, mincing any pleasantries, as Lacey knew she would.  
  
"We've got a problem."  
  
Micky raised her eyebrow at the word 'we', which implied the neighborhood. "How big," was all she said.  
  
"Big," Lacey replied, catching her breath. Micky said nothing, waiting for her to go on. "Someone gave a the Midtown newsies the bright idea that it would be good ta come inta the Kitchen ta sell." Lacey left out the part about the newsies considering Hell's Kitchen as a part of Midtown; they would never take it easy on the boys if they knew they had made that arrogant presumption.  
  
Micky showed no emotion, as usual. "Well, dat was a damn fool idea if evah I hoid one."  
  
Lacey nodded. "Da girls an I, we're tryin ta take care of it, get 'em out without gettin hurt, but it's a big neighborhood."  
  
Micky shook her head. "Why botha Terese? Ain't da newsies da ones dat sent Maggie off, why protect 'em?"  
  
Lacey sighed. "For one; these aren't the same ones, an I think the only reason there here at all is because someone else put the idea in der heads; made 'em think it was safe...An besides, who do you think is gonna get blamed if newsies start stickin der heads where they don'ta belong? Us, thats who. An then it won't be safe for me, or Gloria, or any of us ta sell here. An it's our home fer Christ's sake!"  
  
Micky nodded, "Ya have a point der. So whatta ya need?"  
  
Lacey smiled and sighed, she had feared Micky would tell her to leave the boys alone to get canned. "You still run errands for a couple families, right?"  
  
Micky grinned, "Not dat one knows what de othas doin', but yeah, only three though, down here in the South end."  
  
Lacey nodded, "Is there any way ya can get some of the lookouts, to, ya know, ignore em a bit? Explain that they don't mean any harm? I'm hopin we can sort of warn 'em off an run 'em out before they get der heads inta anything serious."  
  
Micky nodded, "Yeah, I know a couple fellas. But this won't last for long Fellichi, and if those boys ain't gone, and soon, it won't be pretty."  
  
Lacey nodded, and shook the hand Micky offered. Micky stood and pulled Lacey to her feet. "Good luck ta ya kid, yer gonna need it. I'll try ta spread woid about how youse ain't got notin da do wid dis, but I can't vouch for anytin, especially in da norf part a da Kitchen; so you goils keeps your heads up."  
  
Lacey nodded, let Micky cuff her playfully on the shoulder, and took off again.  
  
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"We ought to just let the whole lot of 'em get they're heads bashed in on there own."  
  
"I would, if they're bein around here wouldn't make us look bad."  
  
"Tank god for ze rain. I don't tink I could last much longer."  
  
"Consider yourself lucky, you didn't have to try and reason with Bull."  
  
"How'de thata go, by da way?"  
  
"I'm beginning to see how he got his name. Bull-headed, thick skulled, stubborn as a Bull, and you guys didn't have to smell him."  
  
Gloria, Lacey, Kats, and Emma lay sprawled over the nearest bunk they could find to collapse into. Annie was already asleep, passed out on the floor. A whole day of attempting to save the neighborhood from disaster had left them wiped; and soaked. The Midtown boys hadn't stopped pawing all over their new territory until the light rain turned to downpour with wind and lightning. Only then could the girls go home.  
  
They could be thankful that none of the boys had gotten into major trouble, yet. But as soon as they started getting recognized after repeated visits, people were going to get suspicious. And Bull wasn't being very helpful. Whatever Spot had said to him had the Midtown leader convinced he had a right to the area. The girls feared it was going to take a major incident to prove otherwise.  
  
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Proving that it never rains but it pours, Aiden came tapping on the girls' window the next week. With the boys venturing further into Hell's Kitchen every day, it was becoming more and more difficult to track them. Sammy had to get up and open the window next to Annie's bunk., the girls refused to move.  
  
Until they saw the battered envelope clutched in Aiden's hand.  
  
"What's happened?"  
  
"Where is she?"  
  
"Is she all right?"  
  
"She's been arrested hasn't she, I knew the chica couldn't keep herself out of trouble."  
  
"When is she coming home?" The last voice was Annie's, and the soft plea was made more pathetic by the little girl's ragged appearance, sprawled on her bunk, propped on her elbows, her eyes begging for both sleep and news.  
  
Aiden's reply was anything but expected.  
  
"It's not from Maggie."  
  
The girls flopped back onto their bunks. "Whatever it is then it can wait," Lacey growled, "I want to sleep!"  
  
"It's from Patty." The girls interest was peaked again. Aiden considered it safe to continue. "That's why Colleen isn't bringing you this one. Patty sent it to me directly, and told me to pass it on to anyone who might have been waiting for news, 'on the off chance that Maggie doesn't write them herself.' Under the circumstances, I'm not surprised she didn't."  
  
The girls were all fully awake now, and every newsie in the room crowded around Aiden on the floor.  
  
Aiden cleared his throat and began. "Well, it says, 'The little imp and I put in at Dublin a week after she ran off. I won't thrill you with details about the passage, as I'm sure in the letter I saw her mail the minute we docked, she's made her opinions about sea travel and the company on board the ship quite 'colorfully' clear. As far as I remember, the last letter I saw her send was in the beginning of August, we were on our way out of Ballyshannon, rather quickly as I recall, but then we always are. We had a little business in Castlebar, Claremorris, a somewhat bizarre outing in Connemara which spurred an unending string of incredibly not funny jokes from Maggie, at my expense. We left Tuam and arrived in Galway city, staying a little longer than expected, but Maggie didn't mind. She'd lived there, briefly, and whenever she wasn't helping me, was in pubs down by the docks, looking up old friends of her fathers.  
  
But the extended stay in Galway meant I had little time to waste if I was to be in Cork on time to meet an arriving boat; missing this job was out of the question. And it was then that I realized how close we were to Maggie's home. I could see her staring a these tiny specs out in the harbor, then became aware of the fact that the specs weren't boats in the harbor, but the Arans, out beyond Galway bay. That was when we decided that I would continue on to Cork, and Maggie would go to Doolin on the coast, and get a ferry from there to the islands, and her family. We parted on the 21st of August, and although I left her my mail pick up addresses for Cork, Waterford, and Limerick, I never heard from her; not for a whole month.  
  
Three days ago I left Ennis in county Clare for Doolin, and from there the Arans. Maggie was there still, but I had had no idea what I had sent her into. The sad fact of the matter is that we never stopped to think what would be waiting for Maggie when she got home. There wasn't much.  
  
Her grandparents still have their house on the bluff, they still have a fine flock of sheep; fishing having become difficult with more and more commercial boats. Her spinster aunt Eileen still lives by herself in a small cottage not far from her parents. Maggie's old cottage is still there as well, but no one moved in after her family left, and its rather a sad sight.   
  
And that's all there was. Malachy, Ian, and Dermott McBride, Maggie's uncles, are dead. Malachy's wife also passed away quite some time ago, Ian never married, and Dermott, the youngest, left a young widow and son behind who died of consumption last winter. Maggie's cousins were living in Cork with Malachy's wife's family,but they all got themselves killed in this damn fool resistance the Irish are trying to put up to the British, all except for Connor. Connor McBride was seven years older than Maggie, Maggie's mother was two years younger than Dermott and ten years younger than Ian, the oldest. And at the promising age of twenty three, he is in prison, his sentence to be determined.  
  
That's all I've been able to glean so far. Needless to say, Maggie's had better days. While I'm sure it did her family good to see her, it can't be easy to see those you love suffering like this, and to count so many more head stones in the family plot than when you left; I know how that feels every time I look at her. I don't know when she'll be home, but she won't leave until she can find a way to get Connor out of prison. The boy and his uncles had been involved in that damn fool rebellion against the English since forever; and its what got all the other McBride men killed. But poor child, she thinks she can save him and heaven help anyone who tries to stand in her way. You know how she is.  
  
But she's all right in every other respect, and rest assured I'll be keeping a sharp eye on her until I've delivered her back. Much Love, Patty.'"  
  
The girls were silent for a moment.  
  
"Poor thing..."  
  
"An she'd been saving for so long..."  
  
"When's she coming home?"  
  
Aiden gave Annie a reassuring hug. "I'm sure she'll be back as soon as she can love, but ya see she's got some business ta finish back der as well." He gave her a wink. "Besides, ye ferget dat me ma and me brudder an sisters are back der as well. Ye don't tink Mrs. Karen Murphy is gonna let her boy stay over here unsupervised fer long do ya? I'm sure once everytin wiv Connor's settled she'll have Maggie back on a boat so fast da wind of 'er passin will tear da thatch from da roofs." This earned him a small smile from Annie, and grateful looks from the other girls.  
  
Aiden pulled Annie onto his lap and turned to Emma. "So how's da Midtown invasion werkin' out?"  
  
Emma groaned, falling back on her bunk and pulling a pillow on top of her head. Aiden clucked his tongue and shook his head. "Dat well is it?"  
  
"If it didn't mean our hides, I'd let zee whole bunch of zem march to certain death and tap dance on zer graves."   
  
Aiden raised his eyebrows. "Any sign of them giving up?"  
  
"About the same as the Popa converting to Judaism an da Hudson flowing backwards on the same day."  
  
"Talks with Bull?"  
  
"Like talking to a bull, only they show more sense. Spot's got him totally fixated."  
  
"Jack? the boys?"  
  
"Idiotas. They listen to nada. Keep telling us to stay out of it, keep quiet."  
  
Aiden gave the girls a look. "All of them?"  
  
Lacey sighed. "Not really, its just that Jack, he's got dem so worried about causin an incident, dey don't speak what dey feel. Jack's da leader, an he won't lift a finger."  
  
"And you?"  
  
"The Blackpool Mill doesn't look quite so bad at this point." Lacey gave Gloria a look, and nodded slightly. Then she turned back to Aiden.   
  
"The real trouble is we can't cover the whole area. And I'm not in a position to go to one of the families. Annie's contacts helped a bit, but they're getting annoyed, and they aren't around all the time. I need someone who can help push them out without killing them, and whose gonna understand we didn't have anything to do with this."  
  
"So in short, ye need Maggie." The girls nodded glumly.  
  
"Well, will you take the next best thing?" All eyes were now on Aiden. He shrugged. "I may be out of the game, but I still have friends who want ta help me. I can't take ye there, but I can get ya in with a lower level thug. Not a bad guy actually. He organizes some of Flynn's goons, no assassins or big jobs, just thugs really. But they'll do anytin fer money. Ye bring him enough, he'll have his boys take care of it."  
  
Emma's eyes grew wide. "How much money?"  
  
Aiden shook his head. "Money isn't the problem. Location is. Dis guy is located way back in da Kitchen, on 12th avenue, and right in da middle a some of Flynn's warehouses. Gettin ta him is risky, especially since I can't get anywhere near der right now."  
  
Lacey shrugged her shoulders. "What choice do we have?"  
  
-----------------------------------  
  
"I don't know if this was such a good idea," Emma kept looking over her shoulder every five minutes as the girls made their way toward 12th avenue. It was late afternoon, but the warehouses were so close together in this area that the street was in constant shadow.  
  
"Just keep your eyes straight ahead and donta tink so much," Lacey lead the way, following Aiden's written instructions, a small pouch containing the girls money clutched in her hand. "The sooner we find the Shiner, the sooner we leave."  
  
Gloria shivered and rubbed her shoulders. "Dis part of the barrio always gave me the creeps."  
  
Annie stopped again and looked around. "Did you hear that?"  
  
"Hear what?"  
  
"There's someone here, a lot of someones, and they don't know how to walk quiet."  
The whole group paused and listened, nothing.  
  
"Letz jest keep going," Kats urged. "We are almost zer."  
  
True enough, Lacey turned down the next ally, and approached a faded red door under a broken lamp. "This is where Aiden says it is-" she stopped suddenly. Everyone froze, they could hear Annie's someones. Whomever they were, they weren't being quiet about it.  
  
Gloria stepped out into the street, took one look, and darted back into the ally cursing. "Idiotas!"  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Goons? Spies? Bulls?"  
  
"Worse," Gloria groaned. "Newsies, a whole pack of 'em. Ten to one they followed us in here."  
  
The girls eyes grew wide, and silently they stuck their heads out into the street to see for themselves. Sure enough, there were several of Bull's higher newsies, not selling, but exploring their new territory, sticking their heads in warehouses, rooting around alleys; in short, the kinds of things you do to get killed in Hell's Kitchen.  
  
Lacey leaned her head back against the brick. "What do we do? We can't just leave 'em."  
  
Gloria shook her head. "We have to. We help them here and now, anyone who sees will assume we brought 'em here."  
  
Kats nodded. "Cut and run, and only zee morons take da fall, could solve everything."  
  
Emma shook her head. "It solves nothing, causes more problems, and is decidedly not our style." Gloria and Kats sulked a bit, but all the girls nodded reluctantly.  
  
"Annie love," Lacey said in a flat even tone, "I need you to head back a few alleys and stay there out of sight. Anything happens, go for help from one of your contacts and bring them back here. Your little, they probably won't see you."  
  
This time Annie didn't sulk, but dutifully slunk through the shadows of the street and disappeared around a building and into an ally half a block away.  
  
The rest of the girls moved out of the ally into the street.  
  
-------------------------------  
Double-Down Reilly didn't like this place, didn't like it at all. He was only here because Bull had sent him, along with Snaps, Jumper, Quinn and Sparks, to check out the farthest end of the territory. Double-Down was sixteen, Quinn was sixteen, and the other boys were fifteen; but he might as well have been thirty, the way others were jumping around like eager puppies. Midtown was a nice stable territory, but Spot's huge Brooklyn holdings were always envied. It was no wonder that Bull was taking the arrogant newsie's words as Gospel. But Double-Down was content in Midtown, and he didn't like this idea of taking the Kitchen, not that he thought it ought to belong to those girls from Manhattan, he just didn't want to be there. He was all ready to go home. Snaps wanted to check out the factories at this end, he wasn't sure why, maybe as possible places to set up new lodgings or maybe simply to snuffle around and see what was going on. Double Down didn't see much point in it all, and although he didn't really believe that the mob had warehouses in this district, he got the feeling he shouldn't be here.  
  
He was just about to call Jumper and Sparks out of an ally they were investigating ahead when four girls emerged from the ally, striding purposefully toward him.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"I could ask you the same question," a tall dark haired girl replied. "Ya know you shouldn't be here, why dontcha just go home before someone getsa hurt."  
  
As the girls made their way into the light, he recognized them; they were the girl from Manhattan, the troublemakers whose Irish friend ended up sailing for home rather than put up with Spot. Double Down grinned, he could hardly blame her. But he couldn't back down. Bull had sent him to do a job and he couldn't let a bunch of girls stop him.   
  
He crossed his arms and shook his head. "Can't do dat. Ye know I won't, so don't try. Dis is ouwah territory now, an you'de do good ta remember dat."  
  
Lacey was seething, but Gloria stepped in. "I don't care what Spot's told you, the Kitchen isn't yours. Its dangerous for you to be here. And your bein here is bad for us as well. So why don't you all go home before someone gets hurt."  
  
"Why should we?" Jumper shouted from down the street, heading towards them. "You sell here all the time, no problem, not a scratch. We're tougher then you'se, we can take it."  
  
Emma rolled her eyes. "First of all, we know what were doing, we know where we should and shouldn't be- Hey! Stay out of there!" Snaps turned to give her a dirty look, he was about to enter the ally with the red door. He looked irritated, but stopped.  
  
Kats continued. "An second, we are women. Deez may be criminals, but most of zem have more morals den a lot of you boyz. Zey don't hurt women and zey don't hurt children. We may be trown out an disowned, but we won't be hurt."  
  
"You on the other hand- Don't touch that door!" Emma screamed as Snaps, overwhelmed by curiosity, began to turn the knob.  
  
Too late, a large man, six feet at least, emerged, took one look at Snaps, and gave him a punch that sent him flying across the ally. More men emerged after him. They looked out in the street, saw the strangers peeking around, and reacted. They shoved the girls away roughly, and went after the boys.  
  
"We have to stop them!" Gloria croaked as she got to her feet. " They know these are newsies, they know what they've been saying!"  
  
"And if we give them enough time to make their point there won't be much of them left to take back to Bull," Lacey commented dryly.  
  
The girls began tugging at the boys, pleading with the thugs.  
  
"He's just a poor crazy boy really, look at him, does he look right to you? A face only a mother could love, he's just escaped from Arkham, really, just let us take them off your hands..."  
  
"Look a those puny arms, could he pose a threat? I could fight better than him...."  
  
They were just shoved away, but they kept at it. Eventually, the thugs paused, looking at the large leader for instructions.   
  
And it was at that point that Sparks thought it was an appropriate time to fight back.   
Lacey saw the club, a steel bar the newsie must have found in an ally, thugs left them all over the kitchen. One blow and all attempts at negotiation would be in vain. She was the closest, and it was too late to do anything.  
  
Except the incredibly stupid. "Maggie'd be proud," she thought as she flung herself toward Sparks, between him and the man who had him by the other arm. She held up her arm in front of her face before the world went black.  
  
--------------------------------------------  
  
Gloria watched in horror as the boy spun around, using the momentum of the turn to strike his captor, and instead catching Lacey with the full force of the swing. The bar connected with her upraised arm with a sickening crack, and the force continued to send her flying a good ten feet before she landed on the wet pavement, her head bouncing off the cobblestones with an ominous thud.  
  
The Midtown boys froze, but Emma acted. "Get out of here!" She said in a harsh whisper. The boys understood, and while one lingered, a horrified expression on his face, he soon followed his comrades into the darkness of the ally.  
  
The leader of the brute squad sent his men roughly back into the building. He walked over to where Katz had Lacey's head pillowed in her lap. She looked up at the man with tears in her eyes, muttering in her native tongue. He turned to Gloria.   
  
"Don't know why she'd bother fer miserable piss ants like those. I'd help, but I'm not a doctor, probably do more harm than good."  
  
The girls nodded, and the man slowly returned to the building. Annie came running out of her ally. "What are we going to do?"  
  
The girls shook their heads, but then Emma's snapped up. "You're going to go home. Yes, home. Under your bunk in the Lodging House is a loose floorboard. Under that is a tin where Maggie left a lot of personal belongings. I need you to bring back the leather wallet with her savings and the black notebook."  
  
Annie shook her head, "But that's Maggie's savings. she was..."   
  
Gloria cut her off gently. "She was saving to bring her family over mija, there's no one left now. She'd want us to use it, you know that."   
  
Annie nodded and started off and a run. Emma's voice sounded behind her. "Don't forget the notebook!"  
  
--------------------------------------------------  
  
Annie's feet pounded the pavement, and she was surprised the beating of her little heart didn't alert the whole neighborhood. But it was just after sunset, and no one took notice of the scrawny, scrubby urchin who elbowed her way through Manhattan. She didn't slow down when she hit the Lodging House either. She flew past Kloppman's desk, skipping over a sleeping newsies on the fourth step, took the landing by the boys room and the bathroom in two steps, and was up to the third floor dormitory less than twenty seconds after she entered the House.  
  
The few faces that picked themselves off the pillows as Annie burst in didn't have time to ask a question. Annie took a running leap toward her bunk, sliding across the floor on her stomach to the far wall, and then pulling herself underneath the bunk head first. All the others could see was Annie's wiggling lower half , but after a lot of scuffling the small girl emerged victorious with an old tin. She pried the lid off, dumping the contents on her unmade bed. Shuffling through it frantically, she seized on the book and the cash, shoved them in her pockets, and pulled her sheet over the rest.  
  
"Don't touch it, and don't let the boys see it," was all she said before she was out the door, leaping down the steps three and four at a time, and nearly avoiding a collision with Racetrack. But before the bemused Italian could question her, Annie was halfway down the street, her mind firmly set on only one person in the world.  
  
-----------------------------------------------  
  
When she returned to the ally, chest heaving, panting heavily, one of the large thugs stood in the street. But to her surprise, he wore a worried expression, and rather than trying to run her out, opened the door for her and pulled her into the shadowy building. In a room just off the ally entrance, Lacy lay on a bare floor, her head in Gloria's lap. Emma and Kats ran to Annie as the bemused girl entered the room; they gave her a quick hug, then Emma began to flip through the book quickly.  
  
"Damn the girl would write it in Gaelic now wouldn't she," she muttered, screwing her face up in a ridiculous manner as she struggled to decipher Maggie's "coded" notes. Finally she found what she was looking for. "Here," she pointed to a name at the top of an open page, "and he's only a few blocks away."   
  
The girls started to question her, but Emma rolled her eyes towards the thugs, and the others realized it would be best not to say too much. Gloria and Kats carried Lacy across their arms in what would have been a comical fashion if the situation hadn't been so serious. Annie tried to give the lead thug one of the bills, but he held up a hand. "No need missy, yer friends told us all about it. It was a good thing you girls did, though why those boys deserve yer help I know not. If ye ever need help again, why, you know where we are." He grinned and ruffled her hair, then Emma smiled at the man, took Annie's hand, and pulled her out into the night.  
  
------------------------------------------  
  
They arrived thirty minutes later at a tall house near the edge of the Kitchen. Emma, following what she read in Maggie's book, led them around to the back entrance, and knocked twice on the window next to the door. A woman, a servant to judge by the dress, opened a small window in the door and peered out.  
  
"State yer business."  
  
Emma held up the money and the book. "We're friends of Maggie O'Rourke. Our friend's been badly hurt and Maggie mentioned that there was a..." she fumbled through the pages to find the name, "a Doctor Fitzwilliam here who could help us and be discreet about it. We can pay," she held up the money.  
  
The woman looked a bit surprised, but not for long, her face returning to its composed state. She opened the door. "Come in before anyone else sees you. I'll have to check first to see if the Doctor is allowed to see you."  
  
The girls were ushered into a tiny room, all white, with nothing in it besides a door, through which the woman left. She returned a few moments later, accompanied by a tall young man, who took Lacy from Gloria and Kats before they could protest. He turned and exited through the door leading into the house, but before the girls could follow, the woman put a hand out to block them.   
  
"Before you go any further remember this. You speak of what you see to no one. Since its going to be light before we'll know if your friend will pull through, you must either leave now, or stay until dark tomorrow night. No one enters or leaves this house in the daytime unless they are on legitimate business, which you dears are not. So what will it be, stay or go?"  
  
The girls didn't need to confer, the answer was unanimous. "Stay."  
  
-------------------------------------  
  
Doctor Fitzwilliam was a large man with a head of stark white gray hair. He was the only doctor Annie had seen that did not use glasses. He stood over where Lacy lay on the high bed, humming a little to himself as he set her arm and wrapped the plaster. Lacy's head had already been bandaged, and she had been given a clean nightgown, all before the girls were allowed to come in.  
  
The house didn't look like a hospital. Once the girls left the stark atrium, they were surprised to find themselves in a house as rich in its furnishings as any in the best neighborhoods on Manhattan. There were thick carpets and fine lamps a tapestries, and plush couches, one of which Annie was asleep in at that very moment. Lacy lay in a very high bed in a small, but nonetheless nicely adorned room. She looked pale and far too still, but it was difficult for the girls to fear for the worst when the doctor kept humming "When the Saints Come Marching In" as he went about his work.  
  
The ornately carved door opened, and the woman, Miss Florence Fitzwilliam, entered, carrying a tray covered with muffins, sausages, and a pot of hot chocolate. "Breakfast time dearies," she chirped, "and then you ought to think about getting some sleep. There wouldn't be anybody to talk to anyways, we're a rather nocturnal household, come sun up, were all in bed."  
  
Emma finally piped up with the question they'd all wanted answered. "Lacy, is she going to be all right?"  
  
"Won't be able to be absolutely certain for another couple of hours, but I should think so," the doctor wiped his hands on his apron and turned to them with a grin. "She's had quite a nasty bump on the head, but we were able to keep the swelling down, and besides a rather fitful headache, she'll be fine in a couple of days. That arm will take longer I'm afraid, but it'll heal straight in that cast, no worry about shifting and such. She's lucky that it was a clean break, with a fracture its harder to be certain the bones are set right."  
  
"When will she wake up?" The concern in Gloria's voice was audible.  
  
The doctor removed the apron and put his jacket back on, "Oh, with the pain killers we gave her, she should be out for the rest of the night. She was conscious for a bit, until I set her arm. Funny little thing, didn't cry, just made a face and passed out. We'll give her something a bit milder tomorrow afternoon, and you can talk to her tomorrow evening."  
  
"So late?" Kats looked confused.   
  
Miss Fitzwilliam nodded, "My brother is right. You will all be asleep during the day anyway, no, no buts about it. If you will follow me, I think we can rummage up some shirts for you girls to sleep in while I clean those clothes. You can sleep in the room next door, it connects right into this one by the sliding door in the wardrobe, you can get to it in your room by moving the tapestry aside." At the girls looks she laughed, "It's a crazy house, I know, but it will all seem better after a good days sleep, now off we go. Lets make sure your friend gets her rest."   
  
With that she led the girls out into the hallway, nodding to the tall man who stood guard outside Lacy's room, and down the hall to a linen closet, where several large men's shirts were found for the girls. They were sent into the bathroom, where Miss Fitzwilliam had already run a large warm bath, and from there were piled into a huge bed in the room next to Lacy's. Gloria noted with some surprise, that there was also a man posted outside their door, which was audibly locked after their hostess saw to the lamps. But Gloria found it difficult to think about the strange household while in the deep, soft bed, and she was asleep before she could puzzle the whole thing out.  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"What do you mean they never came back?"  
  
Jack was facing a riot in the Lodging House, and the rioters were every girl on the third floor as well as a pair from Queens and Brooklyn that he had never met before.  
  
"They left last night, nobody saw where they went, and they never came back! No one has seen any sign of them since yesterday afternoon! Since you claim to hold such command over your newsies, Mister Kelly, I'm sure you know where they are?" Jenny was almost as tall as Jack, and she was using that height as much as possible to gain an advantage over the boy. Jack, for his part, was bewildered, and becoming angrier by the minute.  
  
"Now jest hang on a sec. I nevuh said-"  
  
"Yer wrong!" The voice was Racetrack's. "Dose girls musta come back, cuz I saw Annie tearin' around da house last night."  
  
Colleen nearly knocked him off his feet. "When!," she shouted as she grabbed his arm.  
  
"Late, everyone was in, an since dose girls would nevah leave Annie by hoirself, dey must a been heah."  
  
Sammy shook her head. "I waited all night Race, Lacy, Gloria, Emma, and Kats never came back to the room."  
  
A small grubby looking girl tugged on Sammy's sleeve. With a furtive glance at the boys, she whispered something in the older girl's ear, then hid behind her leg.  
  
Sammy looked at the girl in confusion and surprise. "Well, looks like Race ain't lyin fer once. Ash here says dat she saw Annie run in late last night, but after she grabbed somethin from her bed, she ran right back out again. She never came back."  
  
David shook his head. "That doesn't make sense. Those girls fuss over Annie somethin awful. No way they would let her run around the city at that hour of the night."  
  
Jack was equally confused. "But you said you saw them all leave the house together, right Sammy?" The older girl nodded.  
  
"Right after that Irish kid delivered the letter about Maggie. I think he sent them somewheas, but I wasn't in close enough to hear."  
  
"A letter?" David's eyes were glued to Sammy.   
  
Sammy nodded, and held out the water stained, battered envelope. "I'd bettah warn you David, the news ain't too good."  
  
David looked at the envelope soberly, then put it inside his vest, deciding to open it later in private.  
  
Racetrack was more interested in Aiden. "Dis Irish guy, he come around a lot?"  
  
Sammy shook her head. "Not really, he just delivers letters."  
  
Jack looked incredulous, "Why does he need ta deliver dem. We get mail heah."  
  
Jenny's bitter voice cut through the chatter. "He's a friend of Maggie's. She didn't trust you not to tamper with her correspondence. So she sends her mail to someone she can trust. When they've read and made a copy, they give it to a series of people Maggie knew she could depend on to get the letters to the girls. Aiden is one of the last links in the chain. He also used to work for a lot of the people Maggie's knows back in her old neighborhood. He was probably helping the girls with their problem, since none of their other "friends" seemed willing."  
  
Everyone was silent at the end of Jenny's speech. That was when Colleen stepped forward.  
  
"Frankly, I think its laughable that any of you would try and help the girls at all. Everything they have in this world is what they have scraped themselves. And although you seem ta think they're werkin here is a privilege, you've brought them nothing but trouble. And if ye want to know where they are, I'd try where they've been for the last several weeks. Cleaning up your mess, and trying to keep a bunch of boys who'd sooner spit on them than speak to them, from gettin killed! So why don't you do what you always do when Maggie, or Lacy, or any of them is in trouble, and look the other way."  
  
With that, the little red head spun on her heels, pulling Jenny along with her, down the stairs and back to the Bronx.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Just as Miss Fitzwilliam had predicted, the girls slept right through the day. Occasionally the sound of doors opening and closing and noise from the street would pull one of them from the depths of unconsciousness, but on the whole they slept soundly. In truth, they had never had the privilege of a bed this soft, or so big. Annie had insisted on sleeping in the middle, for fear that the bed was so high up she would break her leg if she rolled out, which she did quite often back home.  
  
But as sunset was streaming through the cracks in the curtains, a faint scuffle woke Gloria, who saw the tapestry being pulled back and Miss Florence Fitzwilliam entering, followed by the servant from the night before who was carrying a pile of clothes. Before turning on a light, Miss Florence and servant both went to the two large windows on the left side of the bed. After tying the curtains more securely closed, they each reached up above the window dressing, and drew down a long, thick black canvas that covered the curtains from top to bottom, as well as generously on both sides. They then pulled a set of huge, but fashionable curtains that hung from two feet below the ceiling to the floor on either side of the window. These large, red brocade curtains met in the center, secured with a tassel, completely hiding the entire unsightly canvas.  
  
Miss Florence turned back to them with a smile, as maid lit the sconces by candlelight. "I told you it was strange house," she giggled, "but I'm sure you can imagine why open widows, or curtains that let light shine through would be a bit of a problem when no one is supposed to know about our 'nocturnal affairs', hmm? And we couldn't just board them up, what would the neighbors think? So now we just look like respectable people who retire early and don't care for a lot of sun in the morning. Oh, we always leave the curtains open for a few hours during the day, keep the shades drawn all the time and tongue will wag!" It was perfectly ridiculous to think of this woman living in a house full of armed thugs and administering to the mob's wounded, but the heavy lock on their door reminded the girls exactly where they were.  
  
Annie spoke first, "How's Lacy?"   
  
Their hostess smiled. "She's going to be fine. But I am afraid she's in rather a lot of pain. Now, as a rule we don't release people until they are completely well. She won't have to wait for the arm to mend, but my brother will not let her out of this house till that head is one hundred percent better and she has her old strength back. And I'm afraid that will not be for another two weeks."  
  
"Two weeks!" Annie squeaked. "We're gonna be here two weeks?"  
  
Miss Fitzwilliam laughed. "You don't, you can go home as soon as its dark, but I'm afraid Theresa isn't going anywhere. See for yourself, but don't overexcite her." With that Miss Fitzwilliam pulled back the tapestry, revealing a small door which the girls could see opened into the open wardrobe in Lacy's room.  
  
The girls, still clad in the borrowed shirts, scrambled out of bed and through the door, quieting themselves a bit when they saw Lacy, still pale, on the too-big bed.  
  
Lacy looked at them, bewildered. "What were you all doing in the closet?" That sent the girls into a round of hysterics and they settled on the couches, armchairs, and cushions near Lacy's bed to tell her all about the night's events. When Lacy began to fight to keep her eyes open, Miss Fitzwilliam ushered them back through the wardrobe.  
  
"Essie brought your clothes, they're all clean and mended -No," she held up a hand at the girls attempts to thank her, "it's all in the fee you paid, and the dues the families of our other patients pay. Now," she gave the girls a grave look, "I'm not sure exactly what you want to do. You can go, or you can stay. I wish I could let you go before sunrise and back after sunset for the next two weeks, but the same people coming and going is very dangerous for us. Right now, every one thinks this house is a laundry, and it is, but just the front room on the first floor and the front basement. And I'm afraid that for our er...guests, there is not a lot of freedom at night." She gave the girls a very serious look and her tone was darkly forboding. "You may already have guessed that the characters of people who come in and out if here at night are not exactly of the highest caliber. Now I carry a weapon whenever I am alone, so does Essie and every other employee. But we do not allow our patients to roam the house- usually that is not a problem since they spend most of their time unconscious. But for a group like you, two rooms will seem very small after two weeks I think. If you chose to stay the only other room you will see will be the bathroom, and then only if there is an escort with you. I'll be back with your supper in about half an hour, you can tell me your decision then."  
  
She gave them a small smile, then slipped back through the door behind the tapestry, closing it as she left.   
  
The girls changed quickly, then sat in a circle on the great bed to decide what to do.  
  
"We can't all stay," Emma began, "the girls at the house will go crazy with worry, even if the boys don't give a damn."  
  
"Besides that, the situation still hasn't been resolved. I bet the Midtown boys will be back in here in another week if nothing else keeps them away." Gloria made a good point.  
  
"But I wouldn't feel right jest leaving Lacy here with zese people," Kats protested.  
  
"We can't leave her all alone!"  
  
"Nobody's gonna leave her by herself Annie," Gloria calmed her, "But only a few of us going back will create even more problems. Everyone at the house is going to want to know where we've been and where the rest of us are. And under constant grinding, someone may let it slip."  
  
"But, frankly, I don't think we can afford to hide in this big beautiful prison either." Emma was resolute. "Right now we have to move on the position we have the Midtown clan in. I'll bet they're too scared right now to drop a toe inside the Kitchen, and we have to act while we have a chance to convince them they don't want it."  
  
"So what do we do?"  
  
"I say we go in shifts, two, three days away at a time. Someone, or two, leaves tonight. Shack up with Sister Robert till morning and then get one the Blackpool girls to share a boarding house bed for the rest of the time. Maggie has the locations of all the girls we could find in the black book. Feel out the situation with Midtown, push Bull to see the stupidity in fighting for this place, keep grinding him. And don't be afraid to throw Lacy up in his face. The fact that those boys never came looking for use after we saved their necks is a powerful piece. But- I don't think we should go back to the Lodging House."  
  
This was met with clamorous protests. Emma held up her hand. "Think about it. Going home means dealing with Jack and Spot and Brooklyn. What we need to do is keep Jack and Brooklyn out of this. We represent the Kitchen, and the more this deal is just between us and Midtown the less Bull should think about Spot, who was probably the root of all this."  
  
"As he is the root of all evil..." Grumbled Gloria.  
  
"And if Bull does nothing?" Kats asked.  
  
"Then after three days those girls come back We wait a day and night, and then send out a different group. That gives us a week of trying to smooth things out and watching Lacy. After that, I'd say we start leaving for good, leaving one person behind with Lacy. We meet up after she gets out, but no one comes back to the house. I think the Fitzwilliams would be all right with that."  
  
"We could also always use Aiden and his buddies to scare Bull off." Annie piped up. Kats gave her a grin. "Brilliant."  
  
"So who goes?" Emma posed the obvious question.  
  
"Why don't we talk to Lacy first?" Gloria suggested.  
  
Lacy, groggy though she was, thought the plan a good idea. She also was very resolute in who should go. "It's got to be Emma and Annie. Annie and Gloria know the most people around here, so if the first group has to come back, you'll have someone in the second one with connections. Also, I know you don't like to be considered a kid Annie, but you'll rake in the sympathy votes big time. As a matter of fact, I don't think either of you should come back."  
  
"Lacy, dearheart I think you're tired." Lacy shook her head violently. "I'm not dead yet, so listen. We always work better together then apart. If you convince Bull, and all is well, then yes, come back, no worries, and we all rest for the next two weeks. If you haven't got him by three days, the next group goes out- no, don't worry, I'll be fine. Just have Annie come back after a week, so I know everything is all right. Besides darling, if your angelic face hasn't helped after all that, it won't be of much use later." Annie grinned and nodded.  
  
By then Lacy was fading and the girls quietly let themselves out through the wardrobe, settling the finer points of the plan in their room.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Do you have any idea of the trouble you've caused? Why don't you just let it go, you're not profiting at all from this anyway!"  
  
Emma was near her breaking point. Arguing with Bull was distinctly like talking to a brick wall.  
  
Annie, on the other hand, was on the lookout for someone else. She'd promised Lacy, so while Emma and Bull fought it out, Annie was watching the door for a semi-familiar face or two. She spotted him immediately.  
  
Double Down didn't know what hit him. One minute he was coming into the common room to see what the fuss was about, and the next a pint size terror with blond curls was on top of him; pounding his chest with her little fists and screaming fit to rouse the whole neighborhood.  
  
When Sparks and Jumper lept forward to pull her off him they got the surprise of their lives; Annie recognized them instantly from the night in the ally, and gave them each a good strong right cross that sent them reeling back. After that she turned, kicked both Snaps and Quinn in the shins, dusted herself off, and returned to Emma's side.   
  
"Lacy sends her regards," was all she said. Emma gave her a grin.  
  
Bull was stunned. "Who's Lacy?"  
  
"She's the girl who nearly got herself killed trying to protect him," Annie jabbed a finger at Sparks, "and she hasn't been able to get out of bed since then, thanks to you."  
  
Bull looked at the stunned Double Down. "When did this happen?"  
  
Double Down eased up into a sitting position and rubbed his jaw and nodded. "Da night ye sent us ta check out the back end of the Kitchen. We met up with a couple a big toughs, and deys tried ta stop 'em. Den one of 'em jumped between annudah guy and Sparks. She got it pretty bad."  
  
Bull looked as if he might buckle, then went expressionless again. "Youse shouldn't a been in owah territory. Especially if ye can't handle it. And we'se ain't had no mowah problems, so jest beat it, before I tell Spot dat Jacks goils is causin problems."  
  
With that the girls were escorted out of the house and down the steps.  
  
"Idiots," Emma swore and kicked a garbage can. "Ungrateful little piss ants. If I were-"  
  
"Wait!" The girls turned around to see Double Down take four stairs at a time, running after them.   
  
"What do you want," Emma growled.  
  
Double Down was panting. "I...want...to help."  
  
Annie snorted.  
  
Double Down shook his head. "Come on, listen. My friends may be idiots, but they're good hearted idiots, honest. It's just dat, well, Midtown's neveh been dat big. All da new space went ta der brains, or whats left of 'em. So when Bull told dem ta scout out da new area, dey tot a little less den usual. But, ta tell da truth, none of dem has been back in der, left it ta da younger guys. An wese all pretty tired of dis. Even Bull. But he's got Spot second guessin him, an aftah all, dis is Spot we'se talkin about. Bull don't want ta look weak. He'll nevah buckle ta goils, I don't care how many people you beat up in da dark."  
  
"So what do we do?"  
  
Double Down shrugged. "I'd say use who ya got. It looks like dem tough guys seem ta like ya. If you could get a few a dem ta come down here, just for show, I'd say dat would be good enough fowah Bull ta fold without losing face."  
  
Annie looked at Emma. They both shrugged. "Its worth a shot, " Emma sighed, then turned back towards Double Down. "By the way, thanks."  
  
Double Down did a little bow, taking off his hat. "Any thing ta help a lady."  
  
Emma gave him an arch smile and set off with Annie down the street, towards the Bronx and Colleen's boarding house.  
  
-------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"She's not any worse is she?"  
  
There was panic rising in Emma's voice. Their week was up and she and Annie had just met up with a newly liberated Katz and Gloria. But the newcomers faces didn't bring the good news they'd hoped for.  
  
Gloria shook her head. "I couldn't understand half of what the doctor said. But the day after you left Lacy started having problems seeing, and her headaches were getting worse, not better. Gracias a Dios the doctor seems to understand what's wrong, but that Senorita Fitzwilliam was worried. She wouldn't let us go in after that,and she practically refused to let us stay any longer than we'd planned. But I don't think that was because of Lacey, there was a lot of noise that night, I think some pretty angry and roughed up members of different circles came in and she was trying to protect us."  
  
"We tried to get her to let one of us stay, but it wazn't any use. We can come back once a week, only one at ze time though, until she tells us otherwise." Kats was clearly as upset as every one else, and felt guilty about having to leave.  
  
"What happened with Bull?"  
  
Emma and Annie both groaned.  
  
"Why am I not surprised? Come on, you can tell us all about it at Colleen's place."  
  
----------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Still no sign of them?" Blink dropped his frozen coat and gloves by the front door, and planted himself by the fire in the common room of the Lodging House. It was the third week of December, the girls had been gone for two and a half weeks, and there hadn't been any word. At least as far as the boys were concerned. A small note had been delivered by Aiden, undetected, to the girls room two weeks ago, stating that they were all safe for the time being, but they couldn't tell where they were, and the boys were never to know they had contacted them. Sammy had burned the note, and as an added precaution, only told the female newsies she could absolutely trust.  
  
For posterity, Jenny and Colleen took turns coming around, asking the boys for any news. The girl newsies knew that the two had received a note from the girls, but they didn't know they were the ones hiding them.  
  
It had started snowing early that afternoon and kept on coming, unusual for New York before January; and while it had made the city rather picturesque, it wasn't entirely pleasant to work in.  
  
Sammy greeted Blink with a kiss on the cheek and a towel, which, after spending the afternoon hanging by the fire, was blissfully warm. "Nothing." she said, trying to make the sentiment as genuine as possible.  
  
It was also notable that Sammy was the only girl downstairs. The fact that first Maggie, and now the rest of that pack had disappeared was not going over well with the other members of the house. Although there was nothing they could charge the boys with, there was nothing to keep them from disliking them all the same. And, truth be told, the boys didn't spend much time looking for the girls either. Since they seemed to have left of their own accord, they washed their hands of it, just as they had of Maggie.  
  
Only David and Les spent the occasional afternoon of good weather hunting around the girls favorite spots. What worried David the most was that they hadn't reported to work. If they weren't working, they weren't eating either. Les missed Annie, and it was fairly obvious that David missed Maggie.  
  
The letter had left him more worried than ever. He knew first hand the kind of sacrifices Maggie made for the girls, who were just as much a part of her family as her relatives back home. And he knew she'd do everything including throw herself on the block with him to save her cousin. And if she failed, no matter how impossible it was or how hard she fought, David knew she would blame herself. She had a true Irishman's impassioned temper, and she just didn't think clearly when her family was threatened. He hoped to God she hadn't gotten herself arrested.  
  
----------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
That night the temperature rose, and the rain changed into a depressing sleet. Aiden jammed his frozen fingertips farther into his jacket after trying to pull the collar up a few more inches to keep the icy cold drop from rolling down his neck and back. He waited in the shadows, the reins of the horse and carriage knotted firmly around the post he was leaning on, staring out at the docks. If the ship had survived the storm, it'd be in tonight, but the old man at the bar had given him no guarantees. He also hadn't given him a name. He strained his eyes through the darkness, the three ships in front of him had arrived before he set up watch, but were only just beginning to unload cargo. He held his breath, listening for the signal.  
  
He needn't have tried so hard.  
  
"I hate boats, I hate da rain, I hate da entire bloody Narth Atlantic. If I ever, ever even so much as tink about gettin on another boat, you'd better hit me, an hard."  
  
"Aww, it wasn' dat bad love."  
  
"Wasn' dat bad? Da deck didn't stay flat fer one minute, not one minute! Ye could at least 'ave booked ship wiv some civilized people fer Christ's sake-"  
  
"Now I tot dey were very nice boys-"  
  
"Dey were pigs!"  
  
"Awww - HICCUP!- Now come on ders Misssss - HICCUP - Kerry. Weze wasn'ts so - Hic - bad!"  
  
"Have you been drinkin again Andrew?"  
  
"Just a - hic - nip now jest a wee nip. Itsss cold outss here."  
  
"How perceptive Andrew."  
  
"You havessss yerssssef a good - hic - a good night now Msssss Kerry. And you - hic - too Meester Donegall."  
  
"Goodnight lad, pleasure meeting you."  
  
"Careful you don't fall off the gangplank Andrew, because I have no intention whatsoever of pulling you out. Frankly I tink ye ought ta do mankind a favor an jest go on and-"  
  
"Now Miss Kerry what kind of Christian comment is dat fer da daughter of a minister?"  
  
"Well, Meester Donagall, I'm sure you being da brother of a minister an a mere tailor yerself would have no idea what I was going ta say now would you?"  
  
"Now... hic- you don't 'ave ta go givin me a - hic- complement Msssss Kerry. Ye jest come - hic - come 'ere an I'll give ye a goin away kisssss -hic- all proper like."  
  
"Ye come any closer Andrew, an all toss ye in da drink meself. In small, morsels so da fish won't have ta werk so hard."  
  
"Come on now Andrew and quit givin da lady a hard time. Sorry bout 'im. A bit a celebratin' dats all."  
  
"Now see Kerry, dat one was very nice."  
  
"Sean's only bein' decent because I cleaned him out in poker last night."  
  
"What? I tot ye didn't play."  
  
"What da hell else was I supposed ta do while ye were in 'meetins' da whole week an a half we were on dat iron prison? I had ta lose six games ta get enough comers last night. Come ta tink of it, Andrew was probably drinkin so much cuz dat bottle a Scotch was de only ting he had left."  
  
"So da trip wasn't a total loss."  
  
"No, not entirely... Now where da devil is Aiden with our transportation, I'm freezing."  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
